This is a film primarily about buggers, absolute buggers. The plot's as thin as an undernourished man
who's seriously let himself go. Set in the aftermath of Superman's death after he
took an enormous one in the chest, the world is apparently lacking any military
defences and/or world leaders; at least that's how it seems. No good bugger can do bugger all against any ruthless
bugger. It's because of this somewhat
lack of skills from any military leader type buggers that an intelligence
officer, who is herself a completely callous bugger devoid of smiles, deems it
a great idea to form Team X - an expendable band of misfits - to undertake high
risk missions for the United States government.
Of course this said band of misfits aren't too happy since they're
forced into their new unwanted roles with the assistance of explosive charges injected
into their necks, which can be activated remotely by another bugger, namely a stone-faced
guy with a bad attitude who takes charge of the Suicide Squad. Now, it seems that one of these would-be
recruits happens to be possessed by a right bugger of a witch. When this witch suddenly decides to take over
her host's body completely and, in turn, tries to take over the world with her
recently resurrected ancient superpowered bugger brother, bad stuff
happens. The Squad is brought in and,
well, etc etc...
So how does it all
play out? It isn't terrible and it isn't great.
It could've been a lot better.
The majority of the characters are unfortunately thinly sketched. One appears too late in the day to make any
impact at all and hardly owns a line in the film, while another is dispatched
so early on it makes your teeth ache. Numerous,
menacing and varied they might be, but the characters' sometimes brief back-stories
unfortunately amount to an abundance of interrupting scenes that kill the flow
rather than accentuate the narrative. Will Smith's 'Deadshot' and Margot
Robbie's 'Harley Quinn' definitely steal the show here adding both empathy and
humour to progress their characters, and yet they still seem to edge things
forward only mere inches rather than help catapulting us through what should've
been a barrage of character driven fun amidst impressive set pieces; and what
about those set pieces? Well, I shan't bore you into bleeding from every orifice
with talk of special effects. In this
day and age the majority of AAA movies have great effects, and quite why people
still go on about them in regards to major releases is beyond me. They should look good; these films cost
millions! There are some exceptions to the rule, of course, but I'm not
reviewing those exceptions at this time, not yet anyway. That aside, set pieces are scattered throughout
and they're well directed with quick fire camera work and two second shots that
fuel the action, and yet still I couldn't help but think I've seen it all
before somewhere, or rather everywhere. This was a film that I believe should've
been based more on character interaction than on action. The writers had everything at their disposal
and nearly every box was ticked, actually too many boxes were ticked. A band of misfits that don't get along?
Check. A band of misfits coming together for the greater good? Check. A band of misfits whose exploits will most
probably lead to a film franchise? Check. But there was a box that should've
been left empty, an impervious and utterly tickless box. Actually the box shouldn't have existed at
all. This is the point where I may come under fire from some when I state that The
Joker shouldn't have been in the damn film until the end. This was a story revolving around lesser
known characters in the DC universe and, for me, The Joker really didn't have a
place in it. His reputation alone precedes
him and yet here he takes a back seat in order to flesh out Harley Quinn's back(love/obsession)story.
I say thrust the big wisecracking
painted profligate into the next film when all the characters are firmly established.
This review has
gone on for longer than expected and I can't say I'm entirely pleased about
that, and I've even left stuff out namely because I didn't want it to become
longwinded, which unfortunately it has become.
I'll work on that. So, in short,
did I enjoy it? You'd think: "NO!" Oddly enough the answer is yes,
but it could've been so much more by giving us so much less. Less joker, more judiciously placed back
stories, a villain that actually speaks a hell of a lot more, a villainess who
can actually stand still without appearing as though she's recently soiled herself,
oh and not so much walking around. There
seemed to be far too much of the latter without much occurring both in plot
progression or character development.
For a city that was supposedly under siege by powerful entities there was
an innumerable amount of quiet moments in which more reflection and character
building should've been at the forefront.
My advice there would've been to use that time to flesh out the
characters a little more beyond mere flashbacks and do it while blowing stuff
up in the background! Blowing stuff up, or indeed buggers, in the background always
adds to the ambience; it's a tried and tested formula that been generously passed
down from one generation of film maker buggers to the next. Damn those quiet moments without any major
character development and their arresting flashbacks at inconvenient times. Damn them, I say! Bugger this, I'm off.
Harker out
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